PREFACE

Wernsdorf, in the Minor Latin Poets original: "Poëtar. latin. minor." (Volume V, Part I, page 551), identifies the same author as the creator of a short work excerpted from the histories of Sallust, titled On the Civil Wars of Marius, Lepidus, and Sertorius original: "De Marii Lepidi ac Sartorii bellis civilibus". He suspects that Palladius was adopted by Rutilius, while also approving of the opinion held by Barthius. However, in the Preface to Volume VI (page 20), he later admitted that everything concerning the homeland and age of Palladius remains uncertain, even though he found the opinion that places Palladius in the times of Valentinian or Theodosius to be probable. Palladius marked no clear trace of a Gallic homeland in his work, unless perhaps one wishes to attribute to this the "Gallic timber" planks mentioned in Book I (13. 1), or the description of the reaping vehicle in Book VII (tit. 2), which the flatter part of Gaul used. Nevertheless, he does mention his own Sardinian estates in the month of March (X. 16), where he incidentally names the Neapolitan territory original: "Neapolitanum territorium", though it is doubted whether this should be referred to Sardinia or Italy. Ant. Sanfelice, in On the Situation and Origin of Campania original: "de Situ et origine Campaniae" (found in Burmann’s Italian Treasury original: "Thesauro Ital.", Vol. IX), interpreted this passage regarding the Italian Naples and affirmed that Palladius wrote his rustic books there, a location which Io. Alb. Fabricius had pointed out to Gesner. Palladius incidentally mentions his Italian estates in March (X. s. 24).

In Palladius, the author of the Aldine edition, Iucundus, was the first to abandon the reading of the earliest editions, corrupting and spoiling it in various ways; nor did Victorius expend much effort in correcting Palladius. Thus, the Aldine reading...